Another record for Eurostar
 

Using the new route to St Pancras station, which opens to the public in November, a Eurostar train has done the journey from Brussels to London in under 2 hours. See http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/tra...cle2984783.ece. This brings Brussels closer than Manchester in journey time.

Well, I was going to give a big cheer until I looked up the Amtrak schedule for Baltimore/New York.

Both runs are about 320 km. Both take just under 2 hr, and the Amtrak makes 3 stops.

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Ira

I have just been looking at the Amtrak timetable, and cannot see a train that takes less than 2 hours 11 minutes to go from Baltimore to New York.

Which train does the journey in less than 2 hours?

Please tell that to the folks who refuse to ride AMTRAK, Ira.

Hi C,

The 09:00 out of NYC ** departs ** Balto at 11:09.

However, the point was, the Eurostar's 2 hrs to cover 320 km should be much less time than Amtrak's.

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Question, curious? How much is each fare?

<<< However, the point was, the Eurostar's 2 hrs to cover 320 km should be much less time than Amtrak's. >>>

1h51m compared to 2h11m - or to put it another way it does it in under 85% of the time with 2 stops

Baltimore-New York is about 30 miles less than London - Brussels and still takes at least 20 minutes more, so Eurostar isn't quite as useless as some of these post might suggest.....

And thmere is the small matter of a BLOODY GREAT TUNNEL UNDER THE SEA to enter into the equation - it slows to 60mph for that bit.

A. It is about 2:04 hr for the Amtrak.
B. It doesn't matter if there is a tunnel or not.
C. Amtrak makes 3 stops.

However, the point is still that Eurostar is touting this as a major event, so one would think that they can do it significantly faster than Amtrak.

The TGVest covers 440 km from Paris to Strasbourg in 2:19 hr. Now that's flying.

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At the risk of sounding a bit of an anorak, Eurostar's official top speed is 300kph (185mph). The same as the TGV. Both have gone considerably faster under test conditions.

And, yes, faster still than the US's 'high speed' trains. Do I detect some sour grapes from across the big pond......8-)

I had to look up "anorak". For those who are as uneducated as I am... the first meaning is a heavy coat like a parka. The second meaning, "In Britain, the word anorak is also a somewhat pejorative term for people whose interests are perceived to be nerdy, or who have more expertise in an arcane topic than seems rational."

word anorak is also a somewhat pejorative term for people whose interests are perceived to be nerdy, or who have more expertise in an arcane topic than seems rational."

and specifically often applied to train spotters - that weird British passion some 'nerds' have of standing on platforms recording head codes and types of trains that that 'spot' - they inevitably wear anoraks because of the oft cool conditions and ubiquitously have termoses of coffee or ??? at their side. Video cameras have revolutionized train spotting i believe

But look and at many busy stations you will see a coterie of anorak-clad train spotters at the end of the platforms duly recording the train head codes (just train numbers - get a life!)

Lol, Aisleseat.

Can't quite belive I posted anything so banal....off to find a thread about marmite or something else reassuringly frivolous.....

Speed inside the 31-mi tunnel is about 100mph.

Maybe they should have built a bridge instead! ;)

I've read that the fastest in-service passenger train in Europe is the ICE on newly purpose built right of way between Cologne and Frankfurt Flughafen - up to 195 mph - a tad faster than TGV though i'm not sure about TGV Est line but then ICEs run that route as well and in theory could go as fast i guess.

Spain apparently is due to take over the in-service passenger speed record soon when the Barcelona-Madrid high-speed line is put into full operation - these TGV i think trains are scheduled to blow along at about 205 mph - we are talking about max speed, not average speeds for those trajectories of course.

Britain is the slow country as regards rail travel - i think a Virgin Pendolino may have set a speed record recently between London and Birmingham at around 130 mph or so.

Without being too much of a nerd or an anorak, it seems that British trains are generally less fast than many in continental Europe. This may be because the infrastructure is generally older and more congested.

However, trains are generally more frequent. On most main lines, trains run every 30 minutes.

It's bloody Beeching's fault :S-

The government owned British Rail was a mess in the 70's, along with most of other stuff in the UK.

Margaret Thatcher came in to power, and one of the many stuff she privatized was the rail system.

I think most will argue that her privatization effort help the UK economy a lot, but many will also argue that the rail system was one that probably shouldn't be included.

Instead of putting money into the infrastructure and create an efficient transportation system for the country like France and Germany, the UK effort was mostly about cost cutting.

As a result, no dedicated highspeed rail (except for the soon-to-open Channel Rail Link), generally poor reliability, and also lots of high profile accidents in the last 20 years.

Anyways, that's my very general, personalized view; as a rail enthusiast looking from far away.

Margaret Thatcher came in to power, and one of the many stuff she privatized was the rail system.>>>>

That was John Major old boy.

Audere - an anorak of the first water when it comes to trains. I went to see the film Trainspotting and was very disgruntled by the lack of actual trainspotting in it.

audere, then you should be even more disappointed in the film Naked Lunch....

Back on topic: I believe Eurostar is comparing themselves to themselves, and is not making boasts of an absolute kind with regard to rate o speed; their point is that the service with the station at St. Pancras instead of Waterloo is going to be faster.

audere_est_facere - Thanks for the clarification. Somehow I thought privatisation happened earlier. In this case, I now firmly believe it was a horrible move by the Major government.

>Spain apparently is due to take over the in-service passenger speed record soon when the Barcelona-Madrid high-speed line is put into full operation - these TGV i think trains are scheduled to blow along at about 205 mph -

At the risk of having to go out and buy an anorak - RENFE is going to use german ICE trains (renamed Velaro or so) and originally Spanish high-speed Talgo variants for the Barcelona connection.

>Do I detect some sour grapes from across the big pond....

Nope. Just surprised that Eurostar is proud that it takes about the same time to go a similar distance as Amtrak. Big deal. :)

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But America only has one such line. Europe (sadly not Britain) is covered by them.

Amtrak is a freight line for most part.

AMTRAK is not a freight line. Its Northeast Corridor is a passenger service on a dedicated passenger line, from Washington to Boston.

In California, it also runs some successful corridor passenger trains with shared tracks.

The problem is on the long-distance routes where it is one train a day on busy freight routes owned and managed by freight companies.

'Nope. Just surprised that Eurostar is proud that it takes about the same time to go a similar distance as Amtrak. Big deal'

But it doesn't does it? It covers 30 miles (50 k) MORE in 20 minutes LESS. Plus it has to slow down under the sea (so the yanks can look for fishes etc according to a previous post! 8-) ).

"In California, it also runs some successful corridor passenger trains with shared tracks."

Let's see. San Diego to Los Angeles is 128 miles, about the same distance as Bristol Temple Meads to London Paddington.

The California route has 12 trains daily, each taking about 2 hrs 40 minutes. That is 48 mile per hour.

The English route has 33 trains daily, each taking about 1 hr 40 minutes. That is 80 miles per hour.

And there are also 31 different trains daily from Bristol Parkway (north of the city) to London Paddington. They take about 90 minutes, running at 85 miles per hour. On both routes, the passenger trains have to mix it with goods trains running at 60 miles per hour, and with other passenger trains, both local and long distance.

>AMTRAK is not a freight line. <

Correct. I think that it is the only passenger line we still have.

Chartley has reinforced my point. Any trains that are on a par with Amtrak, aren't worth cheering about.

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Sorry, i've got my terminolgy wrong.

Amtrak is a passenger serrvice but the rails it runs on are freight rails. Freight trains take priority.

Now i'll go back to looking for pictures of A4 Pacific Class locomotives (which still hold the speed record for steam trains - 126 mph by the Mallard)

chartley - The Pacific Surfliner has enough passengers to run up to a dozen trains a day. And the San Joaquin 6. That's <b>huge success</b> for AMTRAK.

My point isn't to compare that with other countries. But that AMTRAK does have some success on routes like those and in the NE. If resources weren't totally wasted on the money-hemorrhaging long distance trains, these useful services can be upgraded and make them at least a consideration for people going from, say LA to San Diego.

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